Organicist and Mechanistic Metaphors in the Early Days of Neuroscience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48160/18532330me14.354Palavras-chave:
metaphor, organicism, mechanism, neuron doctrine, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, evolutionResumo
In his work, Michael Ruse underscores the significance of metaphors in science, with a particular focus on the “abyss” between mechanistic and organicist metaphors in the history and practice of biology. Ruse posits that the Darwinian revolution involved a radical “metaphor shift” in biology, transitioning from organicism to mechanism. In this article, I set out several objectives (i) to assess whether the neuronist revolution, pivotal in the inception of neuroscience, involved a shift from an organicist metaphor to a mechanistic one; (ii) to highlight the indispensable influences of organicist metaphors in Cajal’s neuron doctrine; and, consequently, (iii) to challenge the idea of an abyss between mechanistic and organicist metaphors, at least, in neuroscience.
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